Pulse field ablation

[Lcjay]

I have been approved for a field pulse ablation. It’s the latest and greatest procedure for AFIB. my question is has anybody had this done and if so how much was the procedure. My insurance says it covers 35% of out patient procedure’s and this is an outpatient thing. Just trying to get an idea of what kind of cost I’m going to incur.

[Paulbounce]

Hi Lcjay.

I can't help with cost but I will say this. I'm jealous - Pulse Field would be my 'go to'. My research shows very positive results with the procedure.

Good luck. I would be very interested to hear how you get on after the ablation. Please post afterwards and 'tag' me if you do an update on the forum - otherwise I might miss the thread.

Paul

[Franky999]

Mine was about £14.5k, very straighf forwzrd, arrived at hospital 7:30, discharged at 12:30 to go home

[secondtry in reply to Franky999]

Hi Franky, I'm very interested in one this year. May I ask, are you in the UK and what hoops did you have to jump through to choose that type of ablation & could you select your EP/hospital?

[Franky999 in reply to secondtry]

Yes UKI did some research on leading ablation consultants in London and narrowed it down to three before making my choice.

As luck would have it he was one of the few early consultants carrying out PFA ablations.

Gave him my history of my decades of paroxysmal afib becoming more frequent and prolonged in the preceding months leading up to a GP visit and prescribed mecication, time to nip it in the bud I thought before it became set in it's ways.

He had a cancellation and the ablation was done a few weeks later.

[secondtry in reply to Franky999]

Much appreciated. I am just one hour from London, are you happy to mention your consultant/hospital?

[Franky999 in reply to secondtry]

Probably best not to publicly

[secondtry in reply to Franky999]

Sure if its OK use the 'chat' for private.

[wilsond in reply to secondtry]

Pulse field is now done in the UK on nhs in several hospitals. UCHW, mine, has been doing since August 2024. One of our members is due for it soon.Under the NHS,you have the right to choose your consultant/ hospital.

[secondtry in reply to wilsond]

That all sounds great. Thank you.

[siouxbee19]

I'm in the U.S., I just had one Nov 4, 2024. I can't answer to your cost, but I do know that what the hospital billed my insurance was in the 5-6 digit range!!! Enough to almost send me back into arrhythmia! 😳. Luckily I only had to pay around $1400.

But I was in the hospital for a total of 6 days because I had a reaction to anesthesia and issues with low blood pressure.

Being that your ablation is a scheduled, outpatient procedure, I'm fairly certain it wouldn't be up in the 5-6 digit range.

Best of luck to you, eager to hear your results!

[Jajarunner]

I've read the outcome levels are the same but recovery is quicker. I did recover quicker from combo RF/PFA but he didn't do so much zapping this time, so it's difficult to compare.Cost? FREE! Thanks to our NHS!!

[JGBH in reply to Jajarunner]

Hi Jajarunner, May I ask you at which hospital in the UK this procedure was carried out on the NHS? Does it make a big difference to your wellbeing? Best wishes.

[Jajarunner in reply to JGBH]

Royal Papworth in Cambridge. Superb hospital. I'm still on amiodarone so too early to tell if it worked this time (4th in five years!). I've already had one emergency cardioversion since it was done (#12) so too early to tell yet. Afib comes on then I need cardioversions. But in between I'm fine so difficult to answer the QoL question. I found each recovery v long but then I'm very active work wise and sporty in my leisure time so I notice the long recovery a lot 🙄

[JGBH in reply to Jajarunner]

Thank you for replying. I appreciate it. What a wonderful hospital. Did you have to wait long.. or was it an emergency. I have just been diagnosed with AFib…. Although I know AFib started earlier on but GP failed to match symptoms with AFib…, I fainted again in September and went to A&E (from 4 pm to 9 am the following day) and was admitted to hospital for a few days. An ILR was implanted to monitor my heart rhythms via blue tooth. An 8 hour AFib episode was recorded in December. I am scared. This is new to me. So any advice/experience from anyone with AFib is most welcome.

Do hope this last procedure will be successful and will give you a better QoL.

[Jajarunner in reply to JGBH]

It's very scary at first but you soon adapt 🙄😅. First three ablations were urgent.but latest I waited ten months.Thank you for your kind words, hope you are sorted out soon too 🙏

[JGBH in reply to Jajarunner]

Yes it is most scary. One feels one might die… The extreme fatigue and total lack of energy, plus difficulty breathing at times are really concerning. I have many health problems, rheumatoid arthritis being one of them. I am 78.. and I live alone.

I think I need to see a good cardiologist to discuss this more fully but the NHS does not always think this is necessary.. might go privately because it worries me.

Please let us know how you progress. Fingers crossed. Take care.

[Sixtychick]

Lucky you. It’s supposed to be very successful. Wish it had been around when I had mine in Sept 2023 in Glenfield, Leicester. I believe they are doing pulse field ones there now. Good luck with yours. Would like to know what it was like.

[Offcut]

shown in this video youtube.com/watch?v=BjDfsH-...(Not working as expected?)

[djmnet in reply to Offcut]

Fascinating. Thank you for sharing.

[dominicp]

I had a PFA done in Aug this year at Papworth, Cambridge. The total amount that my insurance paid was around £17K.

[ozziebob]

Dr John Mandola's This Week in Cardiology YouTube channel has just mentioned "a setback for PFA", and which refers to this news ...

tctmd.com/news/jj-halts-var...

I just feel we all still need to keep our feet on the ground re new PFA techniques and associated technology, but I do also sympathise with those who wish these matters of safety had already been fully resolved, which includes me.

[OzRob in reply to ozziebob]

It is mentioned in that report that they think these events are related to the initial experience with centers figuring out how to use the catheter and manage the workflow.

If PFA is coming soon to you just wait 6 months for them to practice on others, which is what I did.

[OzRob]

The health system in Australia is one of the best in the world.

In my area, the only hospital that offered PFA was the public (free to all) hospital. It had a very impressive catheter lab for ablations. It had been offering Cryoablations for years, and as of last March it introduced PFA.

I had my PFA ablation in October, plenty of time to iron out any wrinkle in the delivery of PFA technology.

I have private health insurance that costs our family about $3,500 AUD per year. The public hospital asked me if it was OK for them to put a claim in for some of the costs, I don't know how much my insurance paid out.

It was the Meditronics system, not the system discussed in the link provided by ozziebob in the previous comment.